2024-01-18 05:22:41
NORMAN (AP) — Oklahoma got back to handling business on Wednesday night.
Jalon Moore scored 16 points and Javian McCollum and Rivaldo Soares each added 13 to help the 15th-ranked Sooners defeat West Virginia 77-63.
Otega Oweh added 12 points, 10 rebounds and five steals for Oklahoma (14-3, 2-2 Big 12), which shot 63.6% in the second half to pull away and bounce back from road losses to TCU and Kansas.
“We needed to win tonight to stop the bleeding,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said.
With the conference being so tough this season – eight Big 12 teams are in the Top 25 – the Sooners mightn’t afford to slip at home once morest an unranked team.
“It’s huge,” Moser said. “You’ve got to take one at a time. You’ve got to log in, got to win it, put it in the bank and go back the next night. Every night, this is going to be insane watching these standings.”
Noah Farrakhan scored 14 points and RaeQuan Battle added 12 for West Virginia, which was trying to build momentum following upsetting then-No. 25 Texas last Saturday.
West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said Oklahoma’s pressure bothered the Mountaineers. They committed 16 turnovers and looked uncomfortable all night.
“It just really shortened our possessions to where we got into a point in time where we were a little bit frantic and we were taking bad shots throughout the course of the game, weren’t really sharing that basketball,” he said.
West Virginia (6-11, 1-3) led 18-12 before Oklahoma picked up the pace and went on an 8-0 run to take the lead. The Sooners led 29-25 at the break. It was a defensive-oriented first half – neither team shot 40% and no player on either team scored more than seven points in the first 20 minutes.
Oklahoma wasn’t worried.
“I think the message was just keep guarding,” Moore said. “I mean, our shots are going to fall, our offense is going to come.”
Oklahoma kept it going at the start of the second half, and Oweh’s two-handed jam made it 33-25. The Sooners held West Virginia scoreless for nearly three minutes following the break.
The Sooners led 49-35 when West Virginia’s Farrakhan dunked on Oklahoma’s 6-foot-10, 275-pound John Hughley IV and was fouled. Farrakhan picked up a technical on the play, so the Mountaineers didn’t get as much momentum from it as they might have. After the sequence, Oklahoma led by at least 12 points the rest of the way.
BIG PICTURE
Oklahoma: The Sooners got back on track and found their offense by picking up the pace and being aggressive. The Sooners shot 49% overall and made 22 of 30 free throws.
UP NEXT
Oklahoma: Visits Cincinnati on Saturday.
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